At 9 o’clock the doors to Westminster Abbey open and the guests have started to arrive. 2,000 people, including the other royal doctors and heads of state and government, will take part in the funeral procession. Among them are US President Joe Biden, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan. The Norwegian royal couple and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also participated. The funeral itself started at 12 noon Norwegian time. Queen Elizabeth’s funeral hour by hour Photo: VICTORIA JONES / AFP 0900: Doors open for arrivals at Westminster Abbey 11.35: Procession with the coffin from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey 12:00: The funeral begins in Westminster Abbey 13:00 : The funeral ends with two minutes’ silence and the national anthem 1315: Procession with the coffin from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch 14:00: The coffin arrives at Wellington Arch where it is transferred by car and taken to Windsor 16:06: The coffin arrives in Windsor 16:10 : Procession with the coffin to Windsor Castle 16.53: Procession ahead at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle 17.00: Service in Windsor where the Queen’s coffin is lowered into the chapel’s vault 20.30: Private funeral service which ends with Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip is buried together in King George VI’s mine chapel, where the Queen’s mother, father and sister are also buried. The BBC reckons that around 4 billion people will want to watch live the sending of the funeral. 125 cinemas will also remain open and show funerals in Great Britain. Never before have more people been expected to accompany a funeral. Large numbers of people Several hundred thousand people are expected in central London, writes Reuters. The transport authorities expect that 1 million people will visit the city today, and several kilometers of barrier fences have been set up in the center of the city to avoid chaos. Over 10,000 police officers are on duty in London during the funeral, and the security operation will be the largest ever in the city. In addition to the police officers, around 6,000 military personnel are involved in the carefully planned programme.
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